Purple reigns as Hong Kong family flat gets makeover
Finding a design that kept parents and children happy was the key to renovating a 1,600 flat in the city's Mid-Levels, writes Adele Brunner
Darius and Claudia Tang had long dreamed of owning their own place, so when property prices slumped during the Sars outbreak more than a decade ago, they put a foot on Hong Kong’s housing ladder.
Back then, as newlyweds, they undertook only basic renovations to the 1,600 sq ft apartment in Mid-Levels, which came with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a maid’s room. Fast forward 10 years, the Tangs – now parents to two children, aged eight and three – felt the flat needed a makeover.
“It was like a 10-year anniversary gift to ourselves,” says Claudia, who grew up in Hong Kong but lived in the United States for a few years before returning in 2000.
“It helped that we had lived in the apartment for a long time. We knew what we liked, what we needed and what we wanted to change.”
To realise their vision of simple but eye-catching decor, the couple enlisted Kilo Pai Chi-wing, of local interior design firm S.I.D., which had helped Claudia’s brother renovate his apartment in the city.
The Tangs decided to retain the three bedrooms, so their son and daughter could each have their own space.